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Email marketing is one of the most effective means of communicating with your audience, yet it is often misunderstood or abused.

In terms of business, your email list is your most prized possession (along with your website). It is the one aspect you control and by sharing amazing content with your readers, you have the opportunity to grow a strong base of loyal fans.

However, many writers aren’t sure how to create an email newsletter, when to send it, and what type of content should be included. How do you determine what your audience wants?

ASK A QUESTION

By asking your audience to respond to a question in your email, you’re putting their needs above your wants. It is more important to give your readers the answers and resources to the questions they want to know than it is to share information you think they want to know.

Take careful note of the responses you receive. This information is extremely valuable to you. Your audience is literally telling you what their pain points are and what information they need.

Now it’s up to you to collect resources and find the answers to their questions.

Your strategy might include posting a blog post on Monday and sharing that post and follow-up question to your email list on Thursday.

Based on the responses you get, you have your next week’s blog post topic. And the cycle can repeat itself.

We’ll deep dive into email marketing basics, strategies, and tips in The Power of Email Marketing workshop at the North Georgia conference so you can either start or fine-tune your newsletters and connect with your readers.

INSTAGRAM

Additionally, I’ll be teaching The Instagram Influence where we’ll cover why Instagram is such a game-changer for your social media platform. Your audience is on Instagram, which hit 1 billion monthly active users in June.

One. Billion. Monthly. Active. Users.

Instagram has the power of a mini-website. With their addition of IGTV for longer videos, and the Stories and Highlight functions, Instagram is a powerhouse. In the workshop, we’ll learn how to define content categories that are applicable not only to Instagram but also to your blog and other social media platforms.

You’ll be able to utilize your social media faster and make it more cohesive for your brand.

Even if you’re brand new to building your platform and growing your social media following, these classes will give you the tools you need to start on a path full of best practices.

To get started, set up a free MailChimp account and an Instagram account (also free). The Instagram workshop will be hands on, so play around with the features. You can always delete or archive any photos, so don’t be afraid to start posting and engaging with your audience.

I can’t wait to see you at the conference!

Bethany Jett attended her first writers’ conference with a proposal and a prayer and left with the Writer of the Year award, an agency contract, and interest from multiple publishers. Three months later, she sold her debut book The Cinderella Rule: a Young Woman’s Guide to Happily Ever After (Revell), which became a Selah Awards finalist.

Bethany is the Founder and Co-Owner of Serious Writer, Inc., and Vice President of Platinum Literary Services where she specializes in marketing, nonfiction proposal creation, ghostwriting, and developmental editing.

Her love for marketing and social media led to her pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in Communication: New Media and Marketing. She also holds a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Behavioral Social Science and Humanities with a Criminal Justice minor.

Along with her speaking, writing, and graduate studies, Bethany speaks at churches and conferences nationwide at women’s and youth conferences and retreats, and her work has been featured in numerous publications including ChristianityToday.com, Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Jr., SpiritLedWoman.com, crosswalk.com, SonomaChristianHome.com, ChristianMingle.com, the Rave section of The Orlando Sentinel, and Splickety Publishing Group.

Bethany is a military spouse, momma-of-boys, suspense-novel junkie who describes herself as “mid-maintenance” and loves cute shoes and all things girly. Connect with her at BethanyJett.com and across all major social media platforms.